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Thursday, 25 August 2011

Were these the reasons to disembowel MAS in the first place? (1) MAS suffers leadership problem.(2) it can’t handle rising fuel costs. (2) MAS is caught in the traditionally weakest business period.

Are we being led to believe that these 3 what? Parameters? variables? are only unique to MAS?

Then perhaps MAS should look for alternative fuels since it is suggestive that ONLY MAS operates on expensive fuels, other airlines are and do not. Two, find ways to make the business period nontraditional. Replace leadership at all levels.

Its leadership they say. You mean, under the layer upon layer of MAS in-house talent, you can’t find people who may have been sidelined or ignored but who understand what MAS is, but because of 1001 reasons cannot be elevated to fix MAS? Instead you think you can trust some people who have RM 57 billion payables to help put MAS back on track? This order for Air Bus by AA was perhaps the kiss of life that saved Airbus from bankruptcy.

The whole deal between MAS-AA raises uneasiness all around for it suggest that at the very base, MAS’s miserable existence gave an opportunity and excuse for some people to make money. That when the dust clears, we will become aware that all this is a corporate game by rich and powerful people for the benefit of the same rich and powerful people.

Why should the fate of MAS (we are not bothered with the future of AA since it’s in capable hands) be decided by 3-4 corporate chieftains- banker, rival airline owner and chief of our sovereign fund? Who yielded the responsibility of caring for a national asset to a few chosen individuals? Why was this assignment to decide the fate of a nationally owned asset not be publicly announced in the first place?

Since everyone accepts that MAS MUST be placed on an even keel, a cabinet level working committee should have been duly formed to fix MAS. Or the cabinet decides at that time, to empower the MOT to fix the MAS problem. Unless of course the MOT is full of imbeciles who never inspire our government to allow it do anything. With an unenviable record like the PKFZ deal, MOT was never in the radar when the government was looking for ways to fix MAS.

MAS is a national strategic asset that requires leadership and a workable and profitable business plan. MAS is the responsibility of the government in the first and all place. We didn’t see the MOF or Ministry of Transport people or a cabinet endorsed team assigned to fix MAS. Instead, this government has acted irresponsibly by asking or agreeing to have the problem of MAS being sorted out by special interest groups. That’s what they are really- AA, Khazanah and CIMB as the match maker, are special interest groups.

We are being indoctrinated and de-sensitize into believing that the MAS-AA deal is a purely rational business deal, handled on its pure merits. We looked around, identified MAS’s problems, we come to the conclusion that its leadership problem.

Who were that we? We are the banker, the head of sovereign fund and the interested rival.

Surely, when the deal was inked, those people in Khazanah, AA and CIMB already knew of the coming 2nd quarter financials of MAS. For the miserable losses, cumulative at .769 billion, the outgoing MAS CEO was given 11 million shares? and who is the smart-alec of a minister who says the shares cant be sold after 10 months by the holder? suppose the outgoing CEO of MAS does indeed sell after the moratorium, will the minister order this person to be arrested or what? if his future actions are seen to be unpatriotic, then the same judgment applies to those who are currently cannibalizing MAS. Further he’s saved from ignominy and inglorious anonymity by being exiled into the inner recesses of the establishment that is now single handedly running the business of Malaysia- khazanah.

So we are treated to another round of CYA rationalization- MAS recently announced a net loss of RM527 million for the second quarter of 2011.

Due to what we may ask? Due to higher fuel costs and (be) anyway, you can almost imagine the MAS people through its corporate communications people say, this 2nd quarter is traditionally our weakest business period.

So it seems MAS is the only airlines in this world facing increasingly expensive fuel costs and it must have switched from using some other unknown cheaper fuels before. Other airlines ALL faced the same fuel costs and if we want to use that excuse, can we explain why Air Asia the now flavor of the month poster boy, achieved exceedingly good results while operating on the same expensive fuel costs? Is AA using cheaper kerosene?

This would suggest AA is better as managing fuel pricing, managing routes, extracting the best. In other words, profits are operationally driven rather than being dependent on known parameters such as knowable fuel costs and fuel cost trends.

And what does, this is MAS traditionally weakest period mean? If it’s already known as traditionally weakest period, why weren’t MAS’s efforts concentrated on unbundling that tradition?

Every time, people talk about MAS- they would always refer to Tajudin’s sale of MAS shares at RM 8 and so on. You mean after successive leadership changes after Tajudin, MAS is still plagued with Tajudin’s legacy. You get the feeling that the sad Tajudin stewardship of MAS will always be used as an excuse to explain MAS’s sorry state.

Then we would be better off explaining MAS’s dismal record as being due to its existence in the first place. That in the end, the absolute remedy is to dismantle MAS completely and let a new national airline come into existence on a clean slate. Let’s start all over again by de-existing MAS.

Instead, we took the easy way out. We know, MAS is facing leadership problem. But we are not looking at the problem with long term objectives for the country as a whole. We want to reduce everything to the bottom line and therefore justify our thinking by pointing out that the whole exercise is but a business decision. We are super quick furthermore to identify that only one person can save MAS.

In an attempt to bolster the fortunes of the flag carrier, state asset manager Khazanah Nasional Berhad swapped 20.5 per cent of MAS stock for a 10 per cent stake in Asia’s biggest budget carrier AirAsia on August 9. The swap enabled AirAsia bosses Tan Sri Tony Fernandes and his partner Datuk Seri Kamaruddin Meranun to sit on the MAS board and will ostensibly help turn it around.

It’s conveniently explained isn’t it?

The airline’s aggressive and consistent cost-control measures also yielded positive results, with a two per cent reduction in non-fuel-related expenses for 2Q 2011 compared to the same quarter for 2010,” the airline said in a statement.

Sorry we are not going to be bedazzled by this CYA phrase. Have you terminated the contract of the caterer then? What proportion is this business in the non-fuel expense category? What about the gargantuan salaries of the executives? You lose money but you still pay humongous salaries?

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comments:

Dato,what is so special that MAS has being treated as the scorned stepchild by the gods of the airline industry.It looks like a cursed airline that it doesn't matter who manages it,as it is doomed to fail anyway.SIA from a tiny republic down south has prospered so much that it has became the world's number one premier airline.

If our seperated Siamese twin SIA can make tons of profits,year after year,and MAS is always doomed in that very poor dog house.Don't tell us that the top brains who are behind the management of MAS,are actually a bunch of losers or stupid dirty,idiotic,corrupted robber morons.

When the new MAS showed profit after those WAU exercise, the CONsultant even gave a glossy report card on the magical 'turnaround'. Really?

Nothing much was discussed about those cost and liabilities that have been transferred out to the Government i.e the tax payers. How about the funds needed to settle the debts and the associated interest cost that were transferred out of MAS? These cost are REAL but conveniently the CONsultant and the superb management chose not to report about them.

Everyone should be happy if MAS actually made profit and that means profit after taking account every including those that have been engineered out of the way. Show us the consolidated accounts of the parent company of MAS and we should be able to see the actual profit or loss and weather the management and the COBsultant can gloat about their 'fantastic' success.

With financial engineering, you can only talk your way out to a certain extent but without real improvement, the numbers are just cosmetic.

Being a government related entity, MAS will always be MAS. Too much legacies and people who care about their own coffers rather than the company.

Lets eat the humble pie and look/learn how our kiasu neighbour's SIA is being run.

Dato,these Khazanah goons are all political appointees.If not,they would already be tanam jagong already.These goons only know how to fill their pockets,because they know that no matter how much money they stole,they are safe from the law or getting fired.

After so many restructuring and bailouts,MAS is still a lossingconcern.If those morons from Khazanah have even an iota of animal brains,they should farm MAS to SIA and let them operate it.Thenlet us wait and see whether they can turn the airline over.If they can turn MAS into a profitableairline,that means the apes and goons of Khazanah and MAS must be caged in Zoo Negara,to be exibited for the public to see how smart they are.

Sak!The plain TRUTH is MAS has been a pathway to screwing the people's money.Mas has been screwed kau kau by which race and you know who.....right from pms to those in authority.I admire your tenacity to see the wrongs done right and the pains you felt with this AA in the picture now.....You tell us how can TF buy an english football club ...Remember Thaskin the billions he paid...Is TF worth more than him????If its not some umno cronies then we public must be idiots not to dissect it...Dont you worry....Mas WILL STILL BE AROUND TO BE SUCKED BLOOD DRY!Remember THIS IS BOLEHLAND .Nobody gets caught for swindling this so called National pride!Who went to the docks for it.....?

This must something that the WAU and JALA didnt manage to forecast in their crystal bowl. About that that 11 million shares is the key to mismanagement of MAS. That is the evidence. If faliure is to manage is being rewarded, we can extrapolate what is undercurrent in MAS. The management makes money, the company sucked to dry asking for taxpayers' intervention. That nothing new with GLCs.

Anything to do with the livelihood of the privilege class CANNOT be touched by anyone outside that class.

This is the un-written rule of the M’sia cabinet.

Just another parallel, why SPAD, not MOT.

PKZF? Who’s the big fish behind those cukong, umno izzn’t?

Of course, Jala, & now Tony, is been looped in to help. Bcoz for the near future, this musical chair of MAS has no privilege class taker. These takers r smart not to pick a hot potato that they can’t handle.

Jala is history, while Tony’s is just beginning. Unless there is drastic action, especially within the organization management, even Tony would find a convenient way out.

At the end, MAS is going to continuously bleed from the taxpayer’s money. Just to keep an inefficient organization living like sugardaddy is till loaded!

Not until accountability & efficient execution r been implemented BRUTALY within her work culture, MAS would continue to live her tongkat dream.

You are quite comical and this writing would be funny if not for the very serious subject of the survival of MAS.

First the funny bits. You suggested that perhaps a cabinet-level working committee should have been formed to fix MAS. I didn’t know you had so much faith in those clowns. Are there any smart ones in the cabinet? Remember, this isn’t the Singapore cabinet where the average IQ is 150, and everyone has got a first class or double first from a top university. If you care to look, our ministers went to third rate universities and got BA or BSc for which an IQ of 110-120 would do. So let’s not give them tough problems to solve.

Then you suggested maybe MoT should be given the job. Actually MAS comes under the purview of the Transport Ministry, so there is no need to ask them to solve a problem they should know well. But really, after reading the court proceedings in Ling Leong Sik’s PKFZ case where a senior officer said he didn’t know interest was included in the purchase price until the police told him, and yet he was involved in that purchase decision, how can we have faith in the MoT?

Now, the serious bits. I do think Azman Mokhtar is competent. Remember, he is not the operations guy; he is really the national portfolio manager, albeit with influence to change a CEO or strategy in a GLC. He knows the problems at MAS are deep-rooted, and there are lots of political interference. These are problems he cannot solve, and they are not his job. So what’s the next best thing to do? Reduce Khazanah’s exposure to one bad airline (70% before AA deal) and jump on the growing bandwagon of a budget airline you wish you had. The TOTAL investment outlay of Khazanah remains the same but instead of having all the airline eggs in a broken basket, Azman swapped a part of MAS (money losing) for a part of AA (money making). How can this be a bad idea? Mind you Khazanah still has 49% of the “invaluable” national airline after the AA swap. For people who think that patriotism should be expressed by ensuring that MAS stays in government hands (i.e. collectively held on behalf of all Malaysians), I would say it would be even more patriotic if we take our own money and buy as many of this money losing share as we can. (It is listed). We can chalk up the losses in that investment to patriotism.

By the way, SIA made only S$45 million in April-June 2011 against S$253 a year ago. CX made HK$2808 in first half 2011 against HK$6840 last year. Both airlines said rising fuel price was a major cause of the profit decline. But they both still made a profit. So MAS clearly has more problems than its competitors. My guess for what it is worth is the poor quality of its management.

What do some have & some don't? What r the common factor? & Can that chain be broken?

That's the 64Mil question that's going to make & break MAS.

IS MAS a TRUE national strategic asset? What does it contribute so special to the nation That it differs from all the other national airlines, which r run as purely a commercial operation?

Could it be bcoz it's a den for fat cats?

Moreover, still silo-viewed within that musical chair circle, that only the 'fairer-one' among the fat cats can be selected to manage MAS?

What make them so special when all over the world many people take retrenchment as part of lives & move-on, while these fairer one can force the GOM to retained their jobs at great expenses to the nation?

R they so powerful that they can make or break GOM?

There is a triage during battlefield medical help. Perhaps it's time now to activate that for MAS.

Save those that can contribute positively to the bottom line of MAS. Truncate those unnecessary fat cats, operational & management, regardless whom their god-fathers r.

This is the 1st step to slim down MAS bloated workforce. Remember what T Hussein Onn did to MAS pilots when those union/personnel plays tough?

T Hussein Onn certainly saw the interest of the nation. Does Khazanah & or the current GOM has that courage to do the necessary? Cut loose the rent-seeking fat cats & save the coffer of the nation?

Or like the saying goes, silo-view is only one directional. & at the end of that view, that light is the headlamp of a speeding on-coming train. Hopefully it won't beak the nation's coffer again.

Excuses, excuses and more excuses for MAS dilemma. Isn't offering excuses the government's and GLCs standard operating procedure of avoiding responsibility? The only excuse MAS cannot use is "teething problems" because MAS has been in existence since 1963!

The sad truth is that MAS has never been managed by professionals. MAS and just like the other GLCs are managed by UMNO and its cronies disguised as "capable" people. But all these "capable" people are only capable of swindling MAS and putting money into their own pockets and those in UMNO who put them there in the first place.

So how do we solve MAS problems? Simple, kick out the present government and get rid of all the Malaysian Nationalism bullshit that says that only Malays can lead MAS. Get a real professional manager, be it a foreigner or of other ethnicity, who can steer MAS out of a nose dive into the watery grave. If SIA, Cathay Pacific and even Quantas can be profitable, why not MAS?

The culprits are really Azman Mokhtar and Idris Jala.We shld demand a full forensic on MAS.They destroyed MAS with their window dressing turnarounds.You don't treat cancer patients by cosmetic surgery to make them look pretty.Azmil is not n never the main player.Infact he was piecing up some right moves.Guess that threatens some guys.

And Khazanah is pretty lame.They can't manage any competitive business.Their forte is running monopolies.They only make money if biz is monopolies or have lots of biz with govt.

But being stupid maybe sign of a very smart brain.

Just looking at Time Dotcom.Khazanah says this company is no good.Time Dotcom has valuable fibre optics network n lots of telecoms licenses.So they sold it mighty cheapo.Kazam ala kazam. .the company is doing great now making lots of money.Myb big windfall for the new owners.

So game is run an asset to the ground and call for some identified person/s to takeover.

"Have you terminated the contract of the caterer then? What proportion is this business in the non-fuel expense category?"The proportion has remained under 2% of total expenses from 2001 till now.Can get this figure from the annual reports under expense line item "purchases of meals and beverages".

Dato' Sak,Spot on. In MAS there are too many managers doing a single job with a fat salary and perks like a BMW whereas in AA a manager has to multi-tasks. AA pays their pilots more than MAS but they have to do more tasks. They don't belong to any pilot association and thus are much more productive. Thats just on two levels. The high cost of food supplied by LSG sky chef is another drain on MAS profitability. It is just to enrich an ex PM's family.The four engined Jumbo 747 guzzled up fuel like a jumbo. Even with a full load the 747s will still lose money on the operation side. So how do you expect MAS to survive?MAS frequent flier.

Dont forget about the abang adik culture in MAS. This is where to the uninitiated, only family members get a good chance of joining the company.

Children of pilots get to join MAS without sufficient qualifications!

Have you seen the standards of the cabin crew ? They are the ambassadors of our country. Try having a decent conversation with them in English.

Have you also noticed how "big" some of the female cabin crews are ? They are way over the SOP set by MAS. But then again.. it is an abang adik company. Or maybe like one famous malaysian PM has said, you scratch my back, I scratch your back.

There are many more factors that will bring MAS down. For now, moral is low. Pilots are flying as though Jet fuel is free and the cabin crew does not give a damn about the passengers.

It will take more then TF of the famed AA to turn this around. It will need a miracle. Short of saying, MAS has to layoff at least half of the staff! then the rest will buck up!

Back to their creative accounting. On revenue of M3.1B and fuel cost of RM1.5B and they can still lose RM0.5B. That means their running cost is RM2.1B over 3 months. That works out to RM0.7B a month.

Go figure!

Check cost of on board nasi lemak.Check cost of a business class meal to Europemany many more!

I am not sure if I should continue reading the things you write. Most Malaysian knew everything you wrote. Sadly, there is still people that voted for UMNO.

I was reading Lee kuan Yew latest book where he clearly explained what the government did to prepare for the rise of China. I am just curious if our leader done anything to prepare for it? It's sad that even the Melayu leader not doing anything to prepare for this unknown future. Can we rely upon UMNO or BN?

For now, I only trust DAP and PAS for Malaysia future. I still doubt about PKR after what they have done to Sabah and recycling some BN leaders.

Lastly, is it hopeless for this country future? Should we immigrate? What can we do to help our beloved country?

Dato,wouldn't it be such an bad idea if the GOM send the top executives of Khazanah and all our GLC's to Singapore,and learn from their counterparts Termasik,how to run a profitable business enterprise.All the GLC's have taken hits of billions of dollars at a time,one time or another.

After Sime Darby's white elephant in Sarawak in a project they shouldn't be in,in the first place.Then came Felda Global.If they just stay at home and do what they know best,instead of venturing overseas and doing something they don't know,they would have save billions.

And why Felda Global went overseas is anyboby's guess.And where have all the lost funds ended up,is also anybody's guess too.And if not for the public outroar,and the subsequent withdrawal of approval by BNM, Maybank's aquisition of one of Indonesia's largest bank from Temasik,would have ended in billions of ringgit of losses too.

Sak, many high level officers in MOT are not in favour of the share swap deal. But as you rightly said MOT was never in the radar when the government was looking for ways to fix MAS. Not before during Tajudin Ramli's era and not after that until today. On many occasion, MOT's recommendation about MAS-Air Asia went unheeded.

They are trying to deceive the public as though TF is capable of turning around MAS as he has "successfuly" led Air Asia. MAS and Air Asia are two different models altogether. And how could TF do it when he is only a non-executive board member? In Air Asia he is the CEO managing it on a day to day basis. Having TF on MAS board is akin to having an enemy in your bedroom. All TF will do now is to be part of the decision making body to decide on which routes to fly and which routes to cancel. Isn't this an opportunity for Air Asia to get the routes that they want at the expense of MAS?

As for your comment about internal talent, there are many of them really. But for those people to succeed it is pertinent to allow MAS to be given a free hand and level playing ground with Air Asia. Among things that the government should observe are;

1) no more "directive" as to where MAS should or should not fly to. Good example is Buenous Aires route which MAS is not allowed to withdraw. This operation has been making tens of millions of losses every year since day one.

2) no more directing MAS to sell of profitable business units such as the inflight catering. In most airlines inflight catering is among the profitable business units that help in the airline's overall profitability. Imagine after this MAS is "directed" to farm out MRO (Engineering Unit) or MASKargo. MAS will be strippied naked then.

Only this evening MAS proved again that old habits die hard. MH2536 was scheduled to arrive in Kuching at 1545, but it didn't until 1635, a full 50 minutes behind time. Official reason? Technical fault! Unofficial reason as announced loudly in the cabin by a very upset passenger, "There is no technical fault, the delay is because the plane is waiting for VIPs who are late!"

Sure enough, one was a full minister and the other a Deputy Minister. Imagine the amount of fuel burnt and wasted just to accomodate the very people who should be setting good example on time-keeping. So this is Malaysia and this is MAS, always generous to a fault, and how humongous that fault can get!

Remember the story of a MAS station manager's wife who was late for a flight, and the plane which had already taxied to the end of the runway ready for take-off had to be ordered back to allow this modern day Cleopatra to come on board!

I have experienced many delays on MAS flights; after a while one gets accustomed to 'technical problems', and don't feel anxious at all. Why should we feel that way when it can very well be something simple and innocent, for instance, a caterer arriving late to load meals into a plane. This was what I saw one dau and got a stewardess to confirm that the Captain was merely doing his best to keep the passengers at ease - at ease with a plane with technical problems!

Repeat this over and over again in every airport, and in HQ do 'creative accounting' while MAS' big boys do the social circuit and play the P.R.game, and all pretending everything is OK, then a time will come, like now, when nothing is OK.

No matter! We have accountants, investment bankers, management experts, lawyers, etc, to help fix the problem, any problem, with lots of help, or even a big stick, from the big boys in politics. Don't big boys help big boys? This is a win-win game. Then what about the rest of the country? What about them?

"There's a place for everyone under the Malaysian sun, and the sun is still there: you stay in the sun, we stay in the shade, thank you very much.

I sniff insider trading at large! No EGM for both public-listed-company (read: Berhad!) on the swap exercise. No SC approval to go ahead with the talk of swaping! And it takes just over a week to perform the exercise since the news broke out! In Europe, this is a no-go! I think Dato' you are better informed on this matter since you have the 'Oracle'...

Since WAU 2001, Khazanah has not been able to fix "operational issues" in MAS highlighted by the late Tan Sri Azizan and summarised below:

SEPT 20011) …TO REENGINEER THIS ENDANGERED COMPANY.2) THE ORGANISATION STRUCTURE OF THE COMPANY IS FOUND TO BE NOT CONDUCIVE TO AN INTEGRATED APPROACH.3) … REVIEWING AND IMPROVING THE PROCESSES AND PROCEDURES TO PLUG THE RAMPANT LEAKAGES AND STOP THE HAEMORRHAGE.4) …BEHOLDEN ON US TO PROTECT IT FROM PREDATORS.5) … PRESENT FRAGMENTED MAS IS NOT IN THE RIGHT STATE….6) MAS CULTURE IS DOMINATED BY A “SILO MENTALITY” RESULTING IN UNINTEGRATED AND UNCOORDINATED ACTIVITIES. 7) …FOSTERED ABUSE, PLUNDER OF THE COMPANY FOR PERSONAL GAINS, HIGH COST, INEFFICIENCY AND HAS DRIVEN THE COMPANY TO NEAR BANKCRUPTCY.8) …DEDICATE OURSELVES TO CREATING A NEW CULTURE GROUNDED IN A FEELING OF COMMON RESPONSIBILITY, BASED ON ACCOUNTABILITY …..9) …MAIN WEAKNESSES OF MAS HAS BEEN THE SILO MENTALITY THAT PERVADES THIS ORGANISATION.

SEPT 20031) …TO ENSURE THAT FACTIONALISM FOSTERED BY THE CLAN CULTURE WOULD NOT BE AN OBSTACLE...2) ….ALWAYS STRIVE TO SUPPRESS ANY TENDENCY TOWARDS FACTIONALISM…3) THIS REQUIRES A CHANGE IN MINDSET AND A NEW CULTURE.4) WE HAVE TO PREVENT LEAKAGES AND WASTAGES.5) GOOD FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT IS ESSENTIAL FOR OUR SURVIVAL.

In one of the press interview, former MD Tan Sri Abdul Aziz has offered a very simple solution to fix MAS:a. MAS must return to basics and b. To deploy the "right people" in taking MAS forward.

For a start, Khazanah should engage Tan Sri Abdul Aziz to instil self confidence among the staff.

There is a great discovery in town.Tony F is so very cunning, he can sell fridge to Eskimos, Disneyland to Walt Disney, Virgins to Richard Branson and the latest one, MAS to Khazanah and soon Malaysia to Malaysians.

DATO MAS/AA MERGER/SWAP(OR MAKAN SUAP)IS A POLITICAL DECISION WHEREBY IT WILL FURTHER ENRICHED D BN CRONIES N BN POLITICIANS.YOU THINK DS PEOPLE WILL GVE A HOOT EVEN IF THEY BLEED N STOLE FROM D NATION'S COFFER.NO ONE IS PATRIOTIC BUT WITH ULTERIOR MOTIVES.THE RICH BECOME RICHER WHILE D POOR BECOME POORER.THE ORLIGARCHS ARE IN CONTROL OF MSIA'S ECONOMY/POLITICS.IT'S SAD BUT IT'S TRUE AND THE MACC IS TOOTHLESS EVEN WITH VOLUMES OF EVIDENCES,AS IN THE CASE OF MAS.

You got it all wrong .In Msia nothing goes on without PM's instruction.If PM wants Dato Sak to takeover MAS than Khazanah will make it happen.But of cos Dato got to propose ur idea to PM first.And it can begin with insinuations n suggestions i.e test the water.Obviously got to find chances to meet PM often or else hv a Chairwoman that is able to do that.

As long as MAS remains in the arms of UMNO politicians it will keep on losing money year in year out. Just look at MAS, and the first thing you notice is the ex prime minister (the sleepy one ) is the advisor appointed by the present prime minister ( u scratch my back I scratch your back )in order to demotivate him to not engage in politicking against him. Then on, you will see the MAS food contractors especially the brother of the ex sleepy prime minister are looting the MAS's earnings. In fact every deal that is done with MAS you will find that the link is with the top UMNO politicians.MAS has been plagued with enormous scandals and all are related to the politicians. Beggining with selling of shares to certain individuals linked to the government at the exorbitant values, and to daily operations that are losing money becvause of the 'forced' deals made by MAS with different entities by the top politicians MAS WILL NEVER RECOVER AND EVEN IF IT RECPVERS IT WILL FALL BACK AGAIN TO IT'S ORIGINAL PLACE.I WONDER WHATEVER HAPPENED TO THE QUESTIONABLE DEALS MADE BY TOP INDIVIDUALS WHEN THEY WERE IN POWER. TO QUOTE SOME, land was bought to build a transport hub in Germany, if not mistaken, was Hanns airport.Every individual appointed by the UMNO top leadership eats away MAS together with his minister.If the govt wants MAS to succeed, then 'hands of' from MAS. Let some individual operate MAS without the intervention of the politicians including the ministers. It should just like Air Asia. A single individual who has no connections with politicians, a strict businessman who sticks to airline policy and not take lessons from politicians. No hanky-pancky from within. MAS should operate like a corporate entity without political itervention from any quarter.

Dato,has MAS got an air route to Zimbabwe.If not they can apply and better get one fast.In case things are not getting better for Umno,up to the days of GE 13th,it is going to be a very busy and profitable flight route.Many Umnoputras will be packing and relocating there permanently.

Last I heard there are no extradiction treaties between Zimbabwe and Malaysia.Soon Zimbabwe will be a very prosperous country,due to the inflow of corrupted funds by Umnoputras.Five to seven stars hotels and resorts will be coming up soon,if Umnoputras are migrating there.

By the way I read an article that Tajuddin is really upset that blogs and bloggers are tarnishing his good and saintly reputation.He had his lawyers initiate a lawsuit against MI for 200 million ringgit.He might be coming after Datuk Sak soon,after he has bankrupted MI.So keep your eyes and ears open.Cheers.

As a former MAS middle management staff, I dont think we can blame the politicians, the government and the top management 100%. Why, because they have ZERO experience in running an airline.

It is the middle management personnel that have the 30-40 years of experience and skills in running the airline. They should have the guts to say NO to the crooks and thieves and they better say NO to the biggest crook of them all NOW, after all these crooks only numbers around 10 but MAS has a strong (but confused) 20000 staff.

Air Asia is big not because they are smart but because MAS management is WEAK.

Tan Sri Aziz had personally told me that he rejected a former PM who wanted to interfere in running the Airline and he was willing to resign if it happened.

Already there r signs that the newly baked interim management committee of the MAS is implementing the suicidal steps for MAS;

1)The same merry-go-round musical chair selection of the CEO within the SAME limited & pampered fairer-one. There is zilch gut to look outside the race for someone who could be efficiently brutal for managerial & operational moves & bite-the-bullet transformative leadership.

Why can’t they get some one like ex-Petronas Merican?

Hello, the talent pool among yr race is just too small. Many of those talents r spuriously paper-qualified & hp6 hand-on, even with their limited yrs of exposure in MNCs. That’s account for the reason why they could only make it ‘BIG’ within M’sia & with monopolistic GLCs.

2)The decision to drop OneWorld alliance & join SkyTeam bad move. The argument of SkyTeam is a better alliance for MAS as it would allow it to embark on new routes without having to compete with other OneWorld alliance members such as Qantas, Cathay Pacific & British Airways does not fit into the newly emerge airline strategy of supplementary opeations. SkyTeam has even more members like Garuda, Vietnam Airways Air France-KLM that over-lapp MAS current routes!

In fact joining OneWorld is more sensible as none of the OneWorld alliance members serve KL, which means MAS is in excellent position to benefit from code sharing, easier-transfer & spin-off jon-ventures as the other alliance members can feed flyers who want to come to KL via MAs. Thus, KLIA can be transformed into a regional hub to serve other destination through this alliance.

3)Cimb’s take – instead of focusing on the life blood of MAS – leisure traffic as identified by BTP, using smaller aircraft & changing seat configuration to de-emphasize premium cabins in favour of more economy-class seating, the new MAS is looking to compete head-on with SIA & is aiming to recapture premium traffic that it has supposedly lost to S’pore.

“We think that the new management could be making a major strategic mistake, as Changi Airport’s position & SIA’s status as a full service hub/carrier r likely to remain unchallenged for years to come.”

Hello there, compete with the Goliath like SIA is OK provided u r in the pink of health, both financially & operationally. Right now, MAS is a dying patient, who is trying to stand on her feet & yet still dreaming of winning the Marathon!

Dreaming is OK, provided yr dream is set within reasonably achievable parameters.

A syndrome of small head big hat? Or just pure syok-sendiri-ism to the extreme, simply u can’t swallow the glory achieve by SIA?

There are so many things wrong that the list of ills is growing longer macam endless aje.

There has not been a thorough house cleaning in the BN mansion as far as I remember; only empty slogans and rhetoric. Our Accountant General's yearly report, numerous RCI's etc are not respected, only for show, action tiada.

This nation truly needs a complete change of guards. It might get worse before it gets better but CHANGE WE MUST.

In less than 10 yrs time, PETRONAS would not be able to generate enough $$ for BN to buy elections. Our young people will suffer then. Our forward march will be at snail's pace compared to our neighbors'. Malaysia might even be in gear "gostan".

Why has no blame been put on the Board of Directors of MAS? They are just as responsible as the Management of MAS to see that the airline is efficiently run and make profits. They must be made accountable and should resign should they fail to improve MAS. The new Board must be made aware that they are collectively responsible to scrutinize MAS accounts and not remain silent/blind to the many bulging expenses which are controllable. They should not be be just free-loaders!

One can understand and empathize with the blogger regarding the plight of the MAS staff.

They have put in many years of their lives only to see their company face yet another brink.

Those who work in the planes put their lives at risk all the time; on long hauls they suffer jet-lag as a norm.

Those who work in the hangers bear no lesser loads on their shoulders; for them, even the minutest failure can never an option.

And those who man counters or sell tickets put on a brave front knowing well there's only so much one can do when competition is octane-high.

Even SIA's Changi outflight share has dropped from 50 percent to 35 percent; although late in the budget airline business, it is going against Qantas for the long-haul budget skies.

Certainly, Shahril defending Munir's purchase of original oil paintings for his MAS office when the business was already in the red is telling of how politics and business have intertwined too much in this country.

And when business is deluded, politics only magnifies that delusion.

With so much hot air from politics, one wonders why those turbofans couldn't lift the planes off themselves and save some fuel.

Yet in business, the bottom-line is the only line. MAS today is at the bottom of that bottom-line. You know that while riding the aerotrain looking at the tarmac.

So the perennial problem with MAS and the other GLCs as well is the intrusion of politics into business riding on social engineering rigged to nationalism sold as rights. (you like walla now, no??)

But the original term was socio-economic engineering. Where's the economic part in the whole package?

In the performance of MAS to-date, that has been neglected in the business until the carrier itself has to be carried out. Maybe they can use one of the conveyor belts. If they still work.

And that is how one can understand the sandiwara of TR suing the govt, and the govt suing TR, and then both settling scores out of court away from the prying eyes of the incredulous rakyat as if nothing has happened when billions of both investor and rakyat funds have just disappeared.

That Harvard case study needs an update for a reality check.

Maybe one can also be written for Maybank which declares dividends by borrowing from the future to throw a self-syioking towel over a past where RM8 Billion has already been blown in Indonesia and Pakistan.

Jaws had collectively dropped over Sime's RM2 Billion loss but Maybank's bad investments four times that are just ignored. How come?

Now its ceo says he hopes the indons don't change their equity rule and what he knows was what he had read in the media.

Good grief, man. Is he for real? His bank puts investors money into a dicey market and his best market intelligence is from what he has read in the papers? He should add more Sarawak pepper into his jakarta sup buntut to wake up.

Likewise, MAS. Its management needs to 'doganise' every second every day. (http://is.gd/uG7oDW).

Over at HKIA, you overhear a junior supervisor barking into his mike, "are you telling me you're satisfied with that kind of KPI?".

Over here, you see some managers walking around just smiling at the worried shop assistants.

Some have said the MAS-AA deal enables AA to ask MAS to forgive some of its debts. The mind is too dull to think of this.

What is worrying is whether MAS will be able to enjoy enough network benefits to make a success of its next move to focus on being a premier class airline.

But network benefits must also mean network synergies for others offering the benefits. MAS needs to hook into its partnership plan those benefits to other players in the same network. That's not so easy for premier class where volume is not the game. But being a hub is. Which KLIA is not.

Likewise, Proton in a Malaysia which should have been the Asean autohub. Instead, it's Thailand. Where air tickets are also cheaper. Just like Changi where some dutyfree tobacco is not only cheaper but fresher. Celaka.

The best that Proton is coming up is a rebadged Galant. That after another tranche of RM400M in r&d and a handful more to keep Lotus revving and the pharoah from finally reflecting if he isn't Asia's gaddhafi.

The problem with MAS and Maybank and Proton and all the others is just about how well we can ramp up to what the globe demands at its whims and fancies. Not what our kataks croak in our own muddied mini-pond.

And we want to talk about winnable candidates for politics? What for? For another round of warped cya groupthink as distant from reality as the bulan is from the pond water?

That leaves the financing of the MRT.

The govt's explanation is absolutely no explanation at all. It muttered about using enough of the land for ancillary support.

So where's the revenue to come from to subsidize the ticket price? If it says no land grab, then there will be no land to build luxury condos next to the stations to be sold for money to pay for the MRT.

Jadi how to pay for the MRT?

You turn on Sudirman's lima puluh tujuh song for some reprieve. But even that won't be strong enough.

Which may also explain why fewer and fewer flags will be flown year after year.

Better MOI save the celebrations money. Get real.

Unless and until the electoral roll and the entire election process is cleaned up, there is nothing to celebrate.

The GE cannot be held unless those things are done to the fullest satisfaction of all parties under the observation of independent international bodies of indisputable repute.

The consequences will be dire for the whole nation if that is ignored.

Just like the way year after year the govt ignores the findings of the Auditor-General's report, always presented AFTER approving the NEXT belanjawan so that more mischief can be locked in before the rakyat jump.

If an airline has a bottom-line, so too the country of the flag it flies.

This post, for the MAS staff. It's hard to get even other less glamorous jobs when one has only flown at mach-2 in the cv.

This post, also for our Muslims who wait obediently at the dinner table for the right time.

Actually it is no use sending MAS people to study how SIA does it, even if the S'pore Govt agrees.

The real reason why MAS is not doing so well is because our ungrateful people have started not to vote for UMNO. That is very bad luck for UMNO and its anak-anak. This has also affectd MAS because every one wants to make a ringgit while they can. Others prefer to fly AA,etc. Also Chinese airlines are very chep to fly now. Let us start a new airline, Air UMNO, with the money in Tabung Haji, etc.

When MSA parted ways in the early 70s, we had the likes of Saw Huat Lye to bring the fledging MAS to be at par with the rest in the airline industry. In terms of salary and perks, he was probably earning half of what the CEOs of MAS are earning today as he was only a GM then but the airline prospered and grew to be one of the best in the region, apart from SIA. Can we honestly say we have the best people running the show today from maintenance to the crew to the board room? In the early days, staff were recruited on merits but what sort of people are we recruiting today? From a latest report, we are not even listed as one of the world's top ten safest airline. So where do we go from here?

Sak, I tried not to provide anymore comment in your blog but i cant help thinking why does this MAS things has dragged to this far thought its over and done. Jala got the bashings just like how UMNO got the same bashing.Who report to who while you were in SHELL with Jala.I thought most of the Oil and Gas people are just brainy if not excellent.Thank you

The was a news report on 11 June 2011 which compares the economics of airlines in this region. MAS, SIA and Thai Airways had the same load factor...But SIA and Thai Airways was able to squeeze profit out of the same load factor of MAS. In another case, the market share of MAS was okay and not lossing out. Therefore, it is clear what is the problem in MAS. Operational cost is way way way high compare to revenue... Imagine MAS is paying RM10 for a bottle of Cactus mineral water...I could get that for like RM2.50 at 7 Evelen (already the expensive store). It could be cheaper....

Stop all these bickering...1. Regionalise AK's operations with an aim of making KUL a regional hub (max 5 hrs flightime).2. MH to concentrate all its effort to being an inter-regional/intercontinental carrier aimed at making KUL a major hub into asia pacific & beyond.3. Make AK & MH seamless, one way or another. No excuses.4. Delist MH but with powerful public accountability.5. SQ, very very well run strategically & operationally they may be, is NOT the true model to emulate. They operate from a city-state like CX for HKG. They do not have domestic requirements. We do & need to strive for balanced air transport development within & outside our borders. Thus, a transparent & very clear air transport policy is required in its inception, implementation & vigourous monitoring. 6. AK should stay listed but without govt stake. They have made it this far and now is the time for them to make good of all their hype & potential. They have already cost the govt coffers a very hefty sum, one way or another. The brilliant TF & KM plus pals, now viewed close to being god-given...Prove it.7. The western "spin" syndrome have landed them all in a pile of mess. When the govt is unclear & allows "spin", it will be caught by it one day soon. Our ex PM Badawi said no bailout for MH, the same should be the case for everyone else! 8. If both MH & AK fails, WHAT THEN? We need clear policy now. Having 2 competing airlines in a relatively small country like Malaysia is not practical, remember BA, BEA & Britich Caledonian. Even other British carriers are now struggling. I don't see Ryanair nor Peoples Express going intercontinental neither.